Shocking Images Of An Abandoned Breeding Facility With Over 100 Lions In South Africa

South Africa is far behind when it comes to animal rights. From elephant poaching to massive hunting, there’s a lot to be done law-wise and enforcement-wise.

One of the most horrible things in South Africa is a game in which wealthy Westerns shoot fenced-in lions. Besides that, people come to South Africa to take pictures with exploited felines that usually are drugged.

Pienika Farm is a lion-breeding facility in South Africa that was abandoned with 108 emaciated lions in it. The owners left them to starve, and 27 of the lions were severely ill (mange and parasites) to the degree that they lost their fur that protected their skin from the boiling sun and diseases.

National Geographic reported that this case was one of the worst cases that Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ inspectors had ever seen.

“It’s hard to describe because it leaves you feeling hollow, knowing that you’ve got the king of the jungle in conditions like that,” said Douglas Wolhuter, the leader of the NSPCA wildlife protection unit which inspected the neglected lion-breeding facility.

Unfortunately, the Pienika Farm isn’t one of its kind; there are thousands of such hapless wildlife that are caged in captivity and have no voice nor power to fend for themselves.

After inspecting the facility, it was estimated that the purpose of the farm was to breed lions and sell their bones to the Asian traditional medicine industry which let the farm owners keep them in unsatisfactory living conditions since all they needed was their bones.It is crucial to make a change and urge South Africa’s government to enact new rules that will stop wildlife exploitation and start enforcing the current rules.

Unfortunately, the lions from the Pienika Farm, do not know how to survive in the wild since they were held in captivity since birth. Furthermore, decent sanctuaries in South Africa are hard to find, so there are not a lot of options for the poor lions.